The Little Book of County Down E-Book

Doreen McBride

• Herausgeber: THP Ireland
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 201

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Did you know? - The world's worst novelist, Amanda McKittrick Ros, was born near Ballynahinch. - The entire Kilkeel fishing fleet was sunk by a German U-boat on 30 May 1918 without the loss of a single life. - Sir Hans Sloane, whose collection formed the foundation of the British Museum, was born in Killyleagh. The Little Book of County Down is a compendium of fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts about this ancient county of Northern Ireland. Here you will find out about Co. Down's history, its literary heritage, its churches and castles, its festivals and fairs, and its famous (and occasionally infamous) men and women. A reliable and quirky guide, this little reference book can be dipped into time and again to reveal something new about the people, the heritage and the secrets of this fascinating county.

Leseprobe

First published 2018

This paperback edition published 2022

The History Press

97 St George’s Place, Cheltenham,

Gloucestershire, GL50 3QB

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

© Doreen McBride, 2018, 2022

The right of Doreen McBride to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7509 9039 4

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

Printed by TJ Books Limited, Padstow, Cornwall.

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Fascinating Facts about County Down

2 History

3 Places

4 St Patrick

5 Famous People, Rogues and Vagabonds

6 County Down and the Great Famine

7 The Linen Industry

8 County Down during the World Wars

9 Ghosts of County Down

10 Big Houses, Famous Gardens and the Mournes

Bibliography

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to my husband, George, for doing his best to knock what he considers nonsensical ideas out of my head; to my cousin, Vernon Finlay, for reading the manuscript and making helpful comment; and to my dear friend, Dr Joy Higginson, who responded to my husband’s plea to ‘give his head peace by acting as my minder while I did fieldwork’.

I am very grateful to the following people who provided information: the late Dr Bill Crawford; Dr William Roulston; the MCMS library at the Ulster American Folk Park, especially Christine Johnston; the Linen Hall Library, Newry Library and Banbridge Library; the Ulster Aviation Society; local historians Eric McIlroy, Ken and Florence Chambers, Plunkett Campbell, the late Ernest Scott, David Griffin, Jane Wright, Harry Allen, George Beattie, Michael and Norman Howland.

Thanks are also due to Arthur Chapman, past Principal of Friend’s School; Linda Ballard UFTM; Dr Janine Paisley; the late Francey Shaw; the late David Elliott; Dr Tim Campbell; Eileen Finlay; Ali McCartney; Noel Killen for answering questions about Ballydugan Mill near Downpatrick; and Lady Anthea Forde could not have been more helpful regarding Seaforde Gardens and Butterflyhouse.

Further thanks go to Hector McDonnell, who gave me information, laughter and permission to reproduce his cartoon on page 53, and to Kirstyn Reilly for permission to use her cartoons on pages 19 and 32. All other illustrations are my own.

INTRODUCTION

The coat of arms below represents County Down, one of the six counties in the Province of Ulster that are part of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. The waves, ship and fish represent the county’s rich maritime heritage, the sheaves the rich agricultural land, the flowers belong to the flax plant. County Down was once the centre of a thriving linen industry and linen threads are obtained from flax plants. The hand holding the crozier represents St Patrick, who started his missionary work near Strangford Lough. The stags represent peace and harmony between the Catholic and Protestant communities, while the Latin motto Absque Labore Nihil means ‘Nothing Without Labour’.

Coat of arms representing County Down.

There is one important fact missing from the coat of arms, namely the beauty of County Down. It’s mainly rich farmland, formed by drumlins left over by the Ice Age. It contains two areas officially designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Lagan Valley and Mourne Mountains.

County Down is bordered by County Antrim to the north, County Armagh to the west, County Louth to the south-west and the Irish Sea to the east.

County Down has excellent roads and connections with the rest of the world. It’s sometimes quicker to travel from London to Belfast than from London to the north of England! In addition, it has good internal connections. It’s possible to travel, by ferry, from Portaferry to Strangford, or from Greencastle to Greenore, in the Irish Republic. As a result of these connections and the resulting proximity of the law, inhabitants of County Down don’t have the same opportunity to make and sell poteen (illegal ‘home-made’ alcohol) and smuggle animals and goods across a land border as those living in Fermanagh or Tyrone. The late Pat Cassidy, who lived in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, once said to me, ‘In Down it’s too risky to make an honest living making and selling poteen!’ (That’s illegal!)

There used to be a notable trade of smuggled goods by sea. The Brandy Pad through the Mourne Mountains was once used by smugglers to bring brandy, silk, tea, coffee and so on inland. Contraband was brought ashore and hidden in coastal caves before being dispersed.

County Down contains many interesting long-distance walks. There’s a flat walk and cycle track along the Newry Canal. Part of the Ulster Way is beside a railway track that leads from Belfast to Bangor, making it possible to walk from say Holywood to Bangor and get a train back.

The River Lagan marks the boundary between Antrim and Down. Land to the south of the Lagan is in Down, that to the north is in Antrim. Strictly speaking, part of Belfast lies within the precincts of County Down, but it is such a large, interesting place that it was decided not to incorporate it in this book due to lack of space.

Two other glaring omissions, again due to lack of space, are the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra and the Somme Museum on the road between Bangor and Newtownards. The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum is an open-air museum in two parts, one part dedicated to transport including a DeLorean car, and carriages from what is claimed to be the world’s first long-distance electric tram; the other part recreates the landscape of 1900 with relocated farmhouses, and a village, Ballycultra, containing, among other exhibits, a silent picturehouse. It’s a place to be savoured, not rushed, and it’s well worth spending a day there.

The Somme Museum is also fascinating, giving, as it does, a glimpse of what it was like to live in a trench during the First World War. There’s a lot of online information about both museums.

In addition, many towns have their own museums and tourist trails. It’s always worth enquiring at local tourist information offices.

1

FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT COUNTY DOWN

Linen manufactured in County Down was used to cover the surface of Hurricane planes. Linen had the advantage of being strong and shells simply made a hole in it as they passed through. A strike wasn’t as catastrophic as would have been the case if the plane had had metallic wings. These planes had to be placed under guard in the desert because camels liked licking their surface!

Noel Mitchel, who is in his 90s, remembers flying in Spitfires towards the end of the war. He says, ‘There was something about a Spitfire! It was easily handled, fast – a lovable plane!’

The last spitfires manufactured had a covering of thin aluminium but the tails and rudders continued to be covered in linen.

A ‘Killinchy Muffler’ is a hug during which the arms are placed around the neck. A ‘Killinchy Waistcoat’ is a closer hug during which the arms are placed around the waist. I wish I knew the origin of these old sayings and I’d be grateful to anyone who could enlighten me. Killinchy is a small village situated 2 miles from the southern side of Strangford Lough.

Come on ye girl ye, til I give ye a Killinchy waistcoat.

The St Patrick’s Centre in Downpatrick is the only permanent exhibition centre in the world dedicated to the life of St Patrick. It’s well worth a visit.

Several members of famous pop band Snow Patrol came from Bangor, County Down, and attended Bangor Grammar School.

Captain Moonlight, the notorious Australian bushranger, was born on Castle Hill, Rathfriland, in 1842. His real name was George Andrew Scott.

Charles de Gaulle has ancestors from County Down. They are buried in Lochinisland graveyard.

Dr Janine Paisley, who lives at Annacloy, near Crossgar, described the unfortunate effect of raising the water level of the river near Annacloy. Drinkers from Annacloy who required subsistence on Sundays, when Annacloy pubs were closed, used to run across the stepping stones in the river to drink and socialise in the Woodgrange. Raising the river’s water level made the stepping stones impossible to use, so a quick dash across the river turned into a 5-mile journey by the road!

Catherine O’Hare was born in 1835 in Ballybrick, Annaclone, approximately 3 miles from Rathfriland. She was the mother of the first European baby born west of the Rocky Mountains. She travelled with her husband Augustus Schubert, and 200 other people who were prospecting for gold in a wagon train. They blazed the way for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The first Norman windows in Ireland are in Inch Cistercian Abbey, which was founded in 1187 by John de Courcy, with monks from Furness Abbey in Lancashire. It is now a ruin in a beautiful setting on the banks of the River Quoile, near the place where it enters Strangford Lough.

Thomas Andrews, the Chief Naval Architect at Harland and Wolff (the company that built the Titanic), was born at Adara House, Comber, on 7 February 1873. He was one of four sons of a wealthy linen merchant and Lord Pirrie’s nephew (the shipyard’s chairman). He was seen as the natural successor to take control of Harland and Wolff when Lord Pirrie retired. He was a popular manager who cared for his workers and referred to them as ‘my pals’.

Thomas married Helen Reilly Barbour in June 1908. She was the daughter of another wealthy Northern Irish linen family. The young couple moved to 12 Windsor Avenue, Belfast, but Thomas’s heart lay in County Down. Every weekend was spent in Comber, where he sailed on Strangford Lough or played cricket. The couple had one daughter, Elba (Elizabeth Law Barbour Andrews).

Thomas was 39 when he was put in charge of the Titanic. It was the first ship for which he was responsible from start to finish. He sailed on Titanic’s ill-fated maiden voyage as head of the Harland and Wolff Guarantee Group (a specially selected group of workers who were on board to fix any snags – none survived). When the ship was sinking, Thomas showed concern for everyone except himself. He encouraged people to put on warm clothing and helped them into lifeboats. The officers say when last seen he was throwing deckchairs and other things to people in the water. His body was never recovered but a hall was built, by public subscription, in Comber, dedicated to his memory and opened in 1915. He is also remembered in his family’s grave by a gravestone bearing the words, ‘Pure, just, generous, affectionate and heroic. He gave his life that others might be saved.’

See you, wee lad! I’m tellin’ ye – the Titanic was all right when she left Belfast!

Professor Theodore Thomson Flynn came to Belfast from Tasmania in 1931 to take the chair of zoology at Queen’s University Belfast, a post he held until his retirement in 1948. Professor Flynn was a respectable, well-regarded biologist and embryologist. His son, Errol Flynn, was a swashbuckling Hollywood idol and womaniser!

Errol helped his father finance a Tasmanian-styled house, called ‘Kurrajong’, at Kilclief, overlooking Strangford Lough. Until then Professor Flynn had lived in rented accommodation. ‘Kurrajong’ was the first house he owned. He lived there during most of the Second World War and after his retirement.

Professor Flynn’s sober-looking house could not be more different from the one Errol shared with his hard-drinking, womanising friend, David Niven, in Malibu. They called it ‘Cirrhosis-by-the Sea’!

John Butler Yeats (1839–1922) was born at Tullylish. His father, William Butler Yeats, was rector of Tullylish Church of Ireland from 1834 until 1862.

John, a well-known artist, was the father of both the author William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) and the artist Jack Butler Yeats (1871–1957).

William Butler Yeats, poet and dramatist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. His brother Jack, who died in 1957, became a famous artist who received many honours, including the Legion of Honour and honorary degrees from universities such as Trinity College Dublin and the University of Ireland.

‘The Man from God Knows Where’ came from Bangor. His name was Thomas Russell. He was born in Cork and served in the British Army in India until he returned to Ireland and came to live in Bangor. He joined the United Irishmen, was involved in the 1798 Rebellion, and was captured, tried and hung outside Downpatrick Gaol (see Chapter 3).

The 1798 Rebellion was an uprising by Catholics and Presbyterians who didn’t belong to the Established Church (the Anglican Church) and were thus denied education, couldn’t hold a public office, and so on. Rents in Ireland were high and unfair taxes were placed on goods. The Uprising nearly succeeded and would have done if French reinforcements had been able to land. They were prevented because of a storm. More than 300,000 people died during that terrible time.

John Boyd Dunlop, who invented the pneumatic tyre for cars and bicycles, worked for several years as a vet in his brother James’s veterinary practice in Downpatrick.

2

HISTORY

County Down was a famous seat of learning that contributed to Ireland’s fame as a ‘land of saints and scholars’.

Bangor’s famous Monastery and School was founded by the missionary, Comgall, in AD 558. It became the parent of numerous educational and monastic establishments on the continent of Europe and in Scotland.

Bangor Abbey and schools prospered for nearly 200 years, with thousands of clerics and students resident at one time. Ireland suffered repeated raids from Norwegians and Danes during the early ninth century, which had a disastrous effect on the old abbey. The inspired leadership of Malachy O’Morgair during the early twelfth century resulted in a revival of its work. Its influence declined when the Irish Church became Anglo-Romanised and it was ended by King Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries

John de Courcy, a prominent Anglo-Norman, caused far-reaching change in Ireland, including County Down. He defeated the Irish at Downpatrick in 1177 and gave his followers large estates. As a result, people with the surnames Savage, Martel, Ridal, Copeland, Jordan and Chamberlain, among others, settled in County Down. They built strong castles but couldn’t resist persistent attacks by the Irish. Many adopted Irish manners and dress and conformed to Irish custom. The influence of the Anglo-Norman families had declined by the time Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558.

According to Irish custom, land didn’t belong to the king – it belonged to the people. The Tanistry, that is the chieftainship of a tribe, didn’t pass on by direct descent. Instead, it passed by election, but only relatives of the chief were eligible. That custom allowed the people to choose, as their leader, a chief who was strong. In 1589 the chieftainship passed to Con McBrien Fertagh O’Neill, the last chief of the Claneboye branch of the O’Neills. The chief didn’t own the lands, he just held them as a trustee for his people. They disliked having to make fixed payments at fixed times, although they recognised they had a duty to support their lord. They willingly made irregular gifts, mostly in kind, and submitted to his often unreasonable demands.

The chiefs lived in stone castles while most people lived in huts made from branches stuck into the ground and bent inwards with wattle interwoven and built round with sods.

The O’Neills are an old family with roots going back into history. They have the reputation of being great warriors and politicians. The O’Neill of Clandeboye negotiated with Elizabeth I and she granted him lands, including the north and eastern parts of Down. He was bound to have felt annoyed because the land belonged to his ancestors in the first place! But needs must!

Laurence Eachard wrote in his book Exact Description of Ireland (1691):

they are of middle stature, strong of body, of an hotter and moister nature than many other nations, of wonderful soft skins, and by reason on the tenderness of their Muscles, they excel in nimbleness and flexibility of all parts of the body; they are reckoned of a quick Wit, (although besotted to many follies) prodigal and careless of their lives, enduring Travel, Cold and Hunger: given to fleshly lusts, light of belief, kind and courteous to strangers, constant in Love, impatient of abuse, and injury, in enmity implacable, and in all affections most vehement and passionate. They are much delighted with Music, but especially the harp and Bagpipe; at the first many of them are very Skilful.

As for their Diet, they feed very much upon herbs especially watercresses; upon Mushrooms, Shamroots and Roots. They delight also in Butter tempered with Oatmeal; also in Milk, Whey, Beef-Broth, and Flesh ofttimes without any bread at all. As for their Corn, they lay it up for their horses, for whom they are very careful.

Queen Elizabeth I claimed possession of Ireland and waged a nine-year war (1593–1601) because she felt threatened. Her late sister’s husband, King Philip of Spain, claimed her throne and Ireland helped him. When she won the war she did what kings and queens did in those days, she slaughtered as many natives as possible, confiscated their land and gave it to her soldiers.

She granted lands to the O’Neills but didn’t see any reason not to grant them to somebody else as well. She had recognised the rights of Brian McFelim O’Neill, Chief of Southern Claneboye, to his territory and had given him a title, yet in 1571 she gave her secretary, Sir Thomas Smith, and his son the whole of Sir Brian’s territory! Sir Brian was furious and protested but the queen refused to listen, so he laid waste to the territory and rendered it useless. A traveller described North Down as, ‘Scarce and starving – a country without happiness and without religion.’

Sir Thomas Smith’s son attempted to hold on to the land and was shot by a wild Irishman, and that was the end of that!

The Irish’ll help King Philip steal my throne. I’ll have to knock the stuffing out of them!

The Queen then granted part of the lands to her favourite, the Earl of Essex. Sir Thomas Smith agreed to the arrangement and tried, for a short time, to hold on to the remainder of the territory. He failed, as did the Earl of Essex, so the territory in North Down fell back into Irish hands and the old tribal ways.

In 1586 Sir Con O’Neill played with his head, promised to be a submissive and loyal subject and formally surrendered his lands to the Queen. She gave them back to him under Letters Patent. He was succeeded by his nephew, Con O’Neill. Con’s castle was a few miles from Belfast in the Castlereagh Hills, where Lagan College is situated today.

A few months before the death of Queen Elizabeth I, Con O’Neill had a drunken feast to celebrate Christmas in his castle. He ran out of wine – a tragedy at an Irish party – so he sent some of his servants into Belfast to buy more. They were drunk and met some soldiers who stole their wine as they were staggering home. A scuffle followed, during which one of the soldiers was wounded. He died during the night and the authorities interpreted the incident as ‘levying war against the Queen’! Con O’Neill was promptly arrested and imprisoned in Carrickfergus Castle, which seems very unfair because he was at home during the scuffle.

By this time James I of England (who was also James VI of Scotland) was on the throne. Hugh Montgomery had powerful friends in the court of King James. He was an ambitious man, who wanted to own estates in Ireland. He made a bargain with Con O’Neill, promising to get him out of prison, and pardoned, in exchange for half his land! Con didn’t like being incarcerated and was probably in fear of his life, so he readily agreed.

I’ll get ye off the hook if ye give me half your land. (Illustration by Kirstyn Reilly)

Hugh Montgomery hired Thomas Montgomery, who owned a vessel that traded with Carrickfergus, to spirit Con O’Neill away.

Thomas seduced the jailor’s daughter. She ‘borrowed’ the key of the jail and smuggled it inside, hidden in the middle of a large cheese. Con O’Neill was released, spirited over to Scotland and taken to see King James, who pardoned him and gave his lands to Hugh Montgomery.

Hugh Montgomery honoured his agreement and re-conveyed half of his ancient lands back to Con O’Neill, but unfortunately Sir James Hamilton also had his beady eye on the rich land of County Down. He managed to convince King James that Hugh Montgomery had been given too much and the king transferred all the land into Sir James Hamilton’s name, with the proviso that it was divided into three equal portions, one for Con O’Neill, one for Hugh Montgomery and one for Sir James.

Hugh Montgomery was raging, but wisely didn’t protest because he still owned a large tract of land.

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries marked the beginnings of Protestantism, when people were sickened by the corruption apparent in the Church. The Church split, giving rise to Protestantism. People who protested against the Church gave rise to the Reformation (the Roman Catholic Church reformed itself after the birth of Protestantism). In Scotland Protestants became known as Presbyterians because their Church was governed by a Presbytery.

England’s King Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Catholic Church because of a disagreement with the Pope. He formed the Anglican Church, which became the established church when a Protestant monarch was on the throne.

In Scotland the Church’s powerbase was threatened by Protestants because they would not recognise either the Pope or the Monarch as Head of the Church. They stated firmly, ‘Jesus Christ is the only Head of the Church we will recognise.’ Some even went as far as signing a covenant to that effect and became known as Covenanters. As a result, they were persecuted. It didn’t matter who was on the throne, Roman Catholic or Protestant monarch, Presbyterians, also known as Dissenters, were in big trouble, especially the hard-line Covenanters. It was against the law not to attend the established church. Dissenters could be severely fined, sent for trial, and, if found guilty, given a long prison sentence, transported, hung, hung drawn and quartered, or burnt at the stake. As a result, this period in Scotland’s history is known as the ‘Killing Times’.

There had always been a close relationship between Scotland and the North of Ireland, so Hugh Montgomery and James Hamilton found it easy to encourage Scots to come to live in Ireland. It was easier to travel by boat across the sea than along rough paths through what was then the dense wooded land of either Scotland or Ireland. People living in Portpatrick regularly went to church in Donaghadee. Unfortunately, Ireland was in a bad state because it had been laid waste during the Elizabethan wars.

William Montgomery, a relation of Hugh Montgomery, wrote the Montgomery Manuscripts recording the family history between 1603 and 1706, and stated:

In three parishes could not be found thirty cabins nor any stone walls but roofless churches and a few vaults at Grey Abbey, and a stump of an Old Castle in Newtown in each of which some gentlemen sheltered themselves at their first coming over.

Anglicans and Presbyterians weren’t the only type of Protestantism. Huguenots were Protestants persecuted in France because of their religion. Approximately 10,000 settled in Ireland. They married locally, became members of the Anglican Church and were instrumental in the development of the linen industry, especially in Counties Antrim and Down.